April 10, 2017

Ripple, Ripple, Jersey

The Ripple Galop and the Jersey are two galop variations found in both M. B. Gilbert's Round Dancing (Portland, Maine, 1890) and George Washington Lopp's La Danse (Paris, 1903), a French translation of Gilbert with some additions and changes. Both variations use the late nineteenth-century American waltz-galop technique of a leap along the line of dance followed by a side step and a cut (or close of the feet) in the rhythm "1&2" rather than the slide-chassé of the galop, extending it into the "Newport" pattern of a leap along the line of dance followed by a series of side-closes, stretching the basic step-unit from one to two measures. The key difference is where the side steps and closes fall relative to the strong beats of the music:

The galop pattern ends in an open position. The waltz-galop normally does as well, but it can also be ended elegantly at the end of the music by a close of the feet rather than a cut. This alteration of the relationship of movements to music in dances of the "new waltz" family is what makes these variations interesting to me.

Please see my original posts for a little more information about the waltz-galop (here) and the Newport (here).

Ripple GalopGilbert and Lopp are consistent in describing the Ripple Galop as the Newport shifted from 3/4 to 2/4 time. One complete turn covers four measures of 2/4 time:

1 Leap backward (along line of dance) with left foot &2 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&3 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&4 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close (cut) left to right(completing a half-turn at the end)

1 Leap forward (along line of dance) with right foot&2 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left&3 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left&4 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close (cut) right to left(completing a half-turn at the end)

Gilbert actually gives the 1&2&3&4 rhythm for two measures. He neglects to mention to repeat it on the other foot for the second half of the turn, but one can deduce it from the pattern of the Newport and the typical pattern of late nineteenth-century variations. Lopp does not give the precise steps, only "deux mesures de Newport", but he gives the other-foot repeat for two more measures to complete the turn. His instructions for the Ripple include "en ayant bien soin de faire les pas à côté et en droite ligne" (being careful to make the steps to the side in a straight line).

Gilbert gives no information about speed, but suggests a tempo of 144 beats per minute for galop in general. Lopp gives only "moderato" as the tempo for the Ripple. 144 is very fast; I would suggest a tempo closer to 125 bpm.

Like other turning dances of this era, one can turn the Ripple Galop either to the right (natural) or left (reverse) or go forward or backward (in effect) by never making a full turn, just alternating quarter-turns to the right and left to allow for both the leaps and the sideways slides to move along the line of dance.

The JerseyThis variation combines the waltz-galop and the Newport patterns for an eight-measure sequence with three complete turns:

1 Leap backward (along line of dance) with left foot &2 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&3 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&4 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close (cut) left to right(completing a half-turn at the end)

1 Leap forward (along line of dance) with right foot&2 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left&3 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left&4 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close (cut) right to left(completing a half-turn at the end)

Alert dancers will notice that this is a variation of the "Esmeralda" pattern that alternates full turns and four-slide galops, though the Esmeralda puts the four-slide first. It is also extremely close to the Knickerbocker; only the placement of the steps relative to the music in the series of side-slides differs:

Knickerbocker: 1&2 3&4 &1&2&3...4Jersey: 1&2 3&4 1&2&3&4

Once again, Gilbert gives the full rhythm of the first half and neglects to mention the necessary repeat on the other foot for the second half. He also lists the "Ripple Combination" as being the same as the Jersey. And once again, there is no tempo given. As with the Ripple, Newport, and waltz-galop, Gilbert's Jersey can be danced forward, backward, or turning either to the right or the left. The four-part sequence allows for too many possible combinations of directions to me list them all.

Like Gilbert, he does not mention the presumed repeat, but the more interesting problems are (1) that he doesn't specify waltz-galop in the first part, just galop, and (2) that he offers 3/4 mazurka time as an alternate rhythm, which takes us back to the original Newport and further complicates the lack-of-repeat issue.

Taking these one by one:

(1) A regular galop step for the first part. It's certainly possible to simply do a two-slide galop for the first two measures of each half of the pattern, but I think it's a much less choreographically coherent sequence. As noted above, the placement of the slides and closes is on a different beat in the galop than in the waltz-galop and "Newport-galop". Combining them is possible, but it's just not as pleasant. Coming out of a turn of two-slide galop leaves one ready for side-slides, not (for the gentleman) a leap backward with the left foot in the pattern of the natural turn along the line of dance. One could make a turn to the left at the end of the galop to set up for the leap backward, rather than completing the natural turn, but that feels like a real stretch.

I'm inclined to think that Lopp was just being careless in his writing here and that he really intended it to be a waltz-galop. If he didn't, well, I'd go with Gilbert's version.

(2) More interesting is the idea that the combination can be danced in 3/4 time, to music with a mazurka accent. That actually works quite nicely, but it alters the pattern of turning to a full turn of waltz galop followed by a full turn of Newport:

1 Leap backward (along line of dance) with left foot &2 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&3 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right(completing a half-turn at the end)

4 Leap forward (along line of dance) with right foot&5 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left&6 Slide left foot to the side (along line of dance), close right to left(completing a half-turn at the end)

That actually matches the "two measures of galop, two measures of Newport" pattern that Lopp gives, but it's not the same pattern of turns as the 2/4-time Jersey and it's not really very interesting. A better parallel to the galop-time Jersey would be to extend the slides of the Newport across two measures of waltz without turning:

1 Leap backward (along line of dance) with left foot &2 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&3 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&4 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&5 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right&6 Slide right foot to the side (along line of dance), close left to right(completing a half-turn at the end)

(repeat all of the above starting on the other foot)

It's impossible to tell at this point what Lopp really intended, but since the first variation (waltz, waltz, Newport, Newport) is indistinguishable from just inserting a turn of Newport into a normal waltz and does not properly parallel the turns of the 2/4-time version, I lean toward the second interpretation (waltz, waltz, extended 2b-Newport).

I don't think the Ripple and Jersey are terribly significant in and of themselves, but they demonstrate two important elements of late-nineteenth century variations: the translation of dances between different time signatures (3/4 to 2/4 and back) and (in contrast with the Knickerbocker) the varying placement of the movements relative to the musical beat.